Faith as Imagination
The Contribution of William F. Lynch, S.J.

Book Review by Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat

This book offers a succinct and revelatory overview of the
thought of this important Jesuit theologian and teacher. William
F. Lynch (1908 - 1987), whose two most important books,
"Christ and Apollo" (1960) and "Images of Hope" (1965), did
pioneer work in establishing the important link between faith and
imagination. This faculty enables the faithful Christian to locate the sacred within the ordinary and to find meaning by constantly enlarging our view of reality. Lynch maintained that Christ gives us the ability to accept the ironic in life and not to run way from loss, defeat, or death.

Gerald J. Bednar, a theology professor at Cleveland St. Mary
Seminary, sees Lynch's paradigm of faith as imagination as a fruitful alternative to both scholastic and Modernist views of faith. At the end of the book, he suggests some of the ways this creative theologian's ideas can be used in the parish.

Imagination remains one of the unused resources of the
contemporary church. This brief volume shows just how important
it is.